Born in the Purple
by advictorem
Summary: Thalia and Jason are the fraternal twins of Jupiter. When a new war is waged, the Romans and Greeks must be united. In order to set events into motion, Hera swipes the memory of one of the twins and sends them to Camp Half-Blood. Contains mostly slash and femslash pairings. [Theyna, Pipalia, Perico, Jasper, Annabeth/Clarisse] [Lost Hero AU]
1. I

**Pairings****: **Thalia/Reyna, Thalia/Piper, one-sided Percy/Nico, Annabeth/Clarisse, eventual Jason/Piper. If you have any pairings you'd like to see, let me know in a review. I do plan on having M/F couples as well, so feel free to suggest one. Especially one for poor lovable Leo.

Homophobic comments spread only hate, and they are far from being constructive criticisms; they will be deleted for there is really no use in posting them.

**Warning: **This is not exactly the Thalia we all know in love; in fact, a lot of things about this story will be violent, and most of the characters will seem harsher. Do keep in mind that Thalia is the daughter of _Jupiter _in this, and not Zeus. She is going to be even more assertive, even more temperamental, and even more dry and sarcastic.

**AN: **The first chapter resembles the Lost Heroes in many ways, and most of the scenes are from the book, but things will be very different from this point on. Thalia thinks similarly to her brother because, as children of Jupiter, they have much in common. I did not copy the story word for word. You will see that many things are different.

**Disclaimer: **Rick Riordan wrote, published, and owns The Heroes of Olympus. I'm just having a little fun.

* * *

**Thalia I**

**Stranger in a Strange Land**

* * *

_Aut vincere aut mori._

_Conquer or die._

The words held no true meaning to Thalia, and yet she felt like they should have.

She was asleep, that much she was positive of. As for everything else…well, the rest of her knowledge was a blur. She was sure of her name and state of mind, but she didn't know anything else about herself. What did she look like? How old was she? Was she cute? Did wondering that mean she was arrogant?

Thalia could feel her eyebrows furrow. A giggle broke through her sleepy concentration, and slender fingers settling onto her scrunched brows fully awoke her. She was on-alert immediately, her eyes of an unknown color flickering open quickly. She barely saw her own pale arm reaching out to strike her potential assailant.

The giggling ceased instantly, and Thalia found her obviously powerful hand tightly wrapped around the column of a girl's throat. She stared blankly into a pair of beautiful eyes that seemed to be constantly shifting their color.

The eyes were panicked and filled with surprise, and Thalia grew even more confused. Why had a harmless, pretty girl been attacking her?

"What are you doing?" a boy's voice broke through the awkwardly-exchanged stare competition. A brown head of curly hair popped up in front of the two girls, and the owner of the voice spun around in his bus seat to see them properly. "You two aren't getting kinky again, are you?"

Thalia's hand fell from the girl's throat and before she even realized what she was doing, she grabbed the boy by his hair and tugged him half-way over the bus seat. The Latino boy struggled, eyeing her in something akin to annoyance.

"Ow! Watch the hair, dude! When the hell did you get so strong?"

She didn't know who these people were, but something about them was sending her nerves into a wild craze. She had to defend herself. She didn't know where on earth she was, or why she was there. She had to get some answers.

"Thalia, what are you doing?" the girl spoke for the first time, one of her hands rubbing her throat sorely. The other hand gripped Thalia's wrist, willing her to loosen her grip on Leo. "Let Leo down. What's gotten into you?"

Despite being disoriented, Thalia released the young Latino boy.

"Who are you people?" Thalia asked, staring at the two of them in distrust. Her eyebrow arched over at the girl, who she realized had to be of some Native American descent. "And how do you know my name?"

The girl next to Thalia, very much shorter than her, ran her hand through her choppy brown hair. "It's just me, Piper, silly." Thalia was caught off-guard when _Piper_ didn't take advantage of her confused state and lunge out at her. Instead, the girl looked sincerely concerned. "Did you have another nightmare?"

"I think she's sleep-walking again," the Latino boy, Leo, responded. Bravely—for someone who wanted to lose an arm—he reached out and playfully patted her on the head. "Come on, now, buddy. Wake up!"

"I'm not sleeping," Thalia replied evenly, swatting away his offending hand. "Where are we?"

"Oh my god, you really don't know, do you?" Piper asked, bewildered. "Thalia, did you hit your head or something?"

"I'm not supposed to be here," the pale girl insisted, not bothering to answer any of Piper's questions. Her head swiveled as she took in everything going on around her—the desert passing them by, teenagers playing around on MP3's and chattering. "This isn't right."

Leo snorted. "Sure," he said sarcastically. "You don't belong here. You aren't a delinquent like the rest of us. C'mon, dude, knock off the act. It was funny at first, but now it's getting kind of irritating."

"Leo, hush," Piper commanded unthinkingly. The pale girl was surprised to see that the Latino boy complied without question, without hesitance. Piper glanced back at Thalia worriedly. "How is it not right?"

There was hopeless, nervous edge in her voice that made Thalia seriously consider her next response. Even though she was absolutely positive that she had never seen either of the teenagers in her life, she felt a strange inclination to make Piper feel assured.

"I…I don't know you," the tallest of the three found herself uttering. "I don't know anyone. I'm sorry."

"Thalia…" the small brunette girl looked genuinely hurt.

"Um, I don't—"

Thalia was cut off by the sound of a loud man bellowing, "All right, puny brats! Listen up!"

For some reason, Thalia found herself irritated. What made him think that he could sit there and talk to her like that? She was the daughter of…someone important?

She furrowed her eyebrows. Well, that was certainly strange. She shook it off, dismissing it as yet another confusing aspect of the day.

The man who had spoken stood from his seat, and Thalia had to bet that he came up to her collarbone on a good day. He was dressed like the typical coach, with a baseball cap pulled low over his hair and an orange polo pulled tightly over his buff chest. He also wore running shoes and loose nylon workout pants. His goatee was sparse and his expression unnecessarily stern like he was trying way too hard to appear intimidating.

Some kids yelled hateful things at him, and he angrily scanned the aisles for the troublemakers. When his beady eyes landed on Thalia, his face transformed into an expression that made him look like he had just stuffed eighteen jalapenos into his mouth all at once.

She didn't know why, but his eyes on her made her feel a sense of anxiousness. Maybe it was the way the coach looked at her—as if he knew that she didn't belong there. He was the only one so far to stare at her like he didn't recognize her.

Coach Hedge (Piper whispered to Thalia to reveal his name) looked away and cleared his throat pointedly. "We'll arrive in five minutes! Stay with your partner. Don't lose your worksheet. And if any of you precious little cupcakes causes any trouble on this trip, I'll send you back to campus the hard way."

Worksheet? Thalia couldn't remember anything about her past, but she had a feeling that schoolwork wasn't her forte.

She didn't even know who she was, but she was really starting to hate this guy.

Piper must have noticed Thalia's sudden fury, because she reached over and grasped her forearm as if to calm her temper.

"He gets away with disrespecting me...I mean, us like that?"

Piper sighed long and nodded. "He always talks to us like that. It's the Wilderness School."

"Where kids are the animals," Leo agreed, smirking.

_I'll show the bastard an animal, _Thalia nearly growled. She stopped herself just barely, realizing that such an action would have caused her new old friends to glance at her in fright. Before she had lost her memory, what kind of psycho had she been? There were dangerous instincts coursing through her veins, encouraging her to fight, to conquer, to kill.

She was reminded of those words that first came to the front of her mind: _Conquer or die._

A sudden sound jolted her from her inner monologue. It only took her seconds to trace the sound, and she frowned when she realized that it was just the curly-haired boy tapping his fingers restlessly on the bus seat.

"I hope you brought your worksheet, Amnesia Girl," Leo was saying, obviously trying to find some humor in their desperate situation. "I used mine up as spit wads days ago. You should have seen Ms. Rigby's face when I pegged her in the forehead with one."

Unable to help herself, she felt the corners of her lips almost twitch up into a smile. Leo looked pleased at the sight, but wisely avoided commenting further.

Thalia just couldn't help but find the mental image funny. C'mon—a red-faced teacher with a spit wad sticking to her forehead?

Piper laced their fingers together, giving Thalia a sheepish look whenever the taller girl eyed her in surprise. "Even if you don't remember it, you're my girlfriend and I'm going to hold hands with you. If you don't like that, tough luck, pal."

When Thalia failed to acknowledge the girl's action, feeling highly uncomfortable, Piper frowned. "You really don't remember us."

"It's…worse than that," the tallest of the three muttered. "I don't even remember who_ I_ am."

Before any more could be said, the bus suddenly came to a stop in front of a large crimson stucco building. One glance around confirmed that they were in the middle of nowhere, in some desert or another. A cold breeze, out of place and definitely unwelcomed, chilled Thalia.

It was then that she bothered to check what she was wearing. She seriously doubted that gray jeans, combat boots, a purple t-shirt, and a thin leather jacket would sufficiently protect her from the brisk temperature.

On instinct, she pulled back the sleeve of her jacket. There was something she was wearing that caused a jolt of recognition to shoot through her. She had a wide and lengthy, pure silver bracelet on her left forearm. There were strange engravings in the metal—serpents, ancient symbols, and a minuscule lightning bolt.

"Before Coach Dipshit makes us get off the bus, we should at least inform you about some things," Piper pointed out. "I don't want anyone to realize that something is wrong with you."

"Please," the Latino boy snorted. "She's totally tugging us around, Pipes."

"She is _not_," Piper argued. "She's too sweet to do something like that. We'll figure this problem out later. For now, we just need to act as normally as possible."

Thalia would have taken offense if the girl didn't look so sincere.

Leo smiled, rubbing his hands together as if preparing for something. Thalia had a feeling that it wasn't going to be something she would like. "Crash course, anyone?"

Piper rolled her eyes. "Leo—"

"We go to the Wilderness School, which means we're 'bad kids'. Troublemakers, hooligans, you name it. Your parents or the government was sick of putting up with you and decided to ship you off to this lovely prison—sorry, boarding school—in Armpit, Nevada, where you learn to do a lot of creative bullshit with nature and frolic through cacti. And, like we're doing now, we occasionally go on educational field trips, directed by the remarkable Coach Hedge, who undoubtedly has a lower IQ than mayonnaise."

"Any of this ringing a bell?" Piper asked softly, patiently.

"No," Thalia responded reluctantly as she observed the people around her. They were all around her age—sixteen, maybe seventeen. Try as she might, she did not recognize a single one of them.

The Latino boy rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "You're really going to continue this, aren't you? Okay, so the three of us started here together this semester. We're the best of friends. You do everything I say, I'm a much better athlete than you, you worship the ground I walk on, I always steal your super hot lady-friends, and you shine my shoes twice a week."

Thalia highly doubted she ever did any of that for anyone.

"Leo Valdez!" Piper reprimanded. "Don't tease her. You're messing around with her head."

"Fine," the Latino boy relented. "Those last few comments were just jokes, but we really are friends."

Ah, that was better.

"Well, Piper, as you have already probably assumed, is a little more than your friend."

The Native American girl blushed although she snuggled a little into Thalia's side. "Leo, would you stop it?"

Thalia honestly didn't remember a damn thing about this girl, but she felt that she very much liked pretty girls. Piper was indeed a pretty girl, so she frankly didn't seem the harm in their closeness.

"Seriously," Leo prattled on, unaffected. "Though I have to say, I didn't know you two would actually end up dating, what with Thalia's flirtatious ways."

Flirtatious ways? She had flirtatious ways?

Piper blushed but smiled teasingly. "She gets it from her father."

It was really bothering Thalia that they were speaking as if she wasn't there.

"My father?" Thalia echoed.

When she repeated the word father in her head, she saw no image. There was no man coming home in a fancy business suit or playing catch with her. There was no man punishing her for coming home late or grounding her for the rest of her life. She saw nothing.

"C'mon," Piper urged Thalia to her feet, pulling her up by their connected hands. "Coach Hedge is letting us off the bus."

Leo grumbled something about not getting to use a megaphone, before he followed after them. Once they were all off of the bus, Thalia found that it was much easier to survey her surroundings. It was all desert land, as far as she could tell. She didn't like not knowing where she was.

Finally, giving in to temptation, she questioned Piper: "Where are we?"

"The Grand Canyon," Piper supplied helpfully, squeezing her hand affectionately.

"How grand," Thalia mumbled joylessly.

"How canyon," Leo added. "Do you think they have food here?"

Before either of his acquaintances could answer him, one of the other boys walked towards them. He rudely nudged himself between Thalia and Piper, breaking the handhold that the pale girl had just been starting to enjoy, and he knocked Leo down.

"Yo, Piper," he said, giving her what he must have thought to be a charming smile. The bits of chocolate between his pearly molars drastically ruined the image.

Even though he didn't have an accent, he wore a pair of hunting boots, blue jeans, and a camouflage hunting jacket. He wore a trucker's hat over his greased black hair.

"Don't talk to these bottom-feeders. You're my partner, remember?"

Bottom-feeder? Thalia was no _bottom-feeder._

Thalia decided that she hated him.

"Go away, Dylan," Piper grumbled. "I don't want to work with you."

"That's no way to be!" the boy argued, although he didn't look the least bit upset. He hooked his arm through hers, and Thalia had to resist the instincts that were telling her to snap the bones of his forearm. "Think of this as your lucky day."

He dragged her away, but not before she was able to send her friends a helpless glance.

Thalia exhaled through her nose, attempting to calm what she realized was her violent and sporadic temper. She stretched a hand to the Latino boy, lifting him to his feet swiftly. Leo brushed himself off, muttering under his breath.

"I hate that guy!"

"Dylan, was it?"

"Yeah," Leo affirmed, thumbing the belt loops of his jeans and releasing a goofy, false chuckle. "I'm Dylan. I act like I'm from Texas, but I'm actually from California. Look at me, I'm so hot. I'm so cool. I wish I could date myself, but since I can't, I'm just going to force myself on Piper! Isn't she so lucky?"

Thalia smirked. "You're a strange one, Leo Valdez."

"So you tell me." Leo gave that mischievous grin. "But, seeing as you don't remember me, I can reuse all of my jokes." He wagged his eyebrows in a way that roused a snicker from Thalia. "We should probably follow the rest of them. Come on!"

They trailed after the other students, making their gradual way through the building while Coach Hedge stopped every few minutes to ramble on about the tribe that owned the museum.

Thalia just barely heard a girl behind her remark something about Piper.

Arching an eyebrow, the pale girl briefly glanced over her shoulder to see the devil incarnate. The girl's face was loaded with enough makeup to last a troupe of rodeo clowns a decade and her clothes looked like they had come straight from a crappy chick flick. Her friends were all dressed to match their ringleader, which was beyond disturbing.

The lead girl, who had muttered something before, spoke loudly, "Hey, Piper, does your tribe run this place? Do you get in free if you do a rain dance?"

Her disciples all laughed when she did although most of the girls appeared as if they hadn't gotten the joke.

A subtle red wave traveled the length of Piper's cheeks, and she was obviously clenching her fists in anger. "My dad's Cherokee," she spat. "Not Hualapai. 'Course, you'd need a few brains cells to know the difference, Isabel."

"Ooh, shit," Thalia couldn't help but mutter. She was beginning to understand how she could be dating this girl.

Isabel, not even missing a beat, widening her eyes mockingly. "Oh, sorry. Was your mom in this tribe? Oh, that's right. You never knew her."

Piper charged her, but Thalia, with good intentions, stepped in front of her. The smaller girl seemed to catch herself and realize what she was doing, because then she smiled apologetically at the pale girl.

"Calm down, okay?"

Piper nodded, reluctantly returning to Dylan's side. Even though she had avoided confrontation, Thalia could still hear the annoying girls rudely commenting on everything about Piper.

"Thank God your girlfriend stopped you, you savage native."

"Wouldn't want you to scalp us."

Thalia finally couldn't take any more of their taunting and started to turn around to scalp them herself. If it wasn't for Leo tugging her to face him, the girls would have been hysterically sobbing over their skinless heads.

"Be cool, man," Leo advised. "Piper doesn't like for us to fight her battles for her. I know it kills you, but she doesn't like it when you play her protector."

Thalia had a feeling that protecting was one of the things she did, but she chose not to comment any further.

Once they reached the far end of the hall, they could see huge glass doors that led out onto a terrace.

"All right, cupcakes," Coach Hedge bellowed. "You're about to get your only glimpse of the Grand Canyon. Try not to break it. The skywalk can hold the weight of seventy jumbo jets, so you featherweights should be safe out there. If possible, avoid tossing each other over the edge. I don't feel like doing any more paperwork."

He opened the doors and allowed the students to step outside. Thalia wished that she could have been amazed by the thing, but it wasn't anything spectacular; it was just a giant hole in the ground to her. It was just _there. _It just _was_—like Thalia.

The glass, see-through skywalk was in the odd shape of a horseshoe.

"Man," Leo said, releasing a loud whistle. "That's wicked."

Finally leaning over and feeling a twinge akin to fear, Thalia couldn't share his opinion. The canyon was massive, with a single strip of a river below. They were so high that Thalia could spit on a bird if she wanted to. The place was just jagged rock to her—jagged, threatening, and murderous rock.

Thalia pulled herself from the railing, turning to observe the many faces around her. She could not recall what she looked like, but from the way the others were staring at her, she could tell that she didn't exactly belong. There was something odd about her, and the delinquent teenagers knew that.

Thunder rumbled above, but the pale girl barely flinched at the frightening sound. Leo and the rest of the students jumped and began talking hurriedly. A cold, strong and argumentative wind blew against Thalia's body, trying yet failing to budge her.

"There is no fucking way this is safe," Leo muttered, peering up at the sky. "Storm's right over us, nowhere else. Weird, huh?"

Thalia bravely glanced upwards. A ring of smoky black clouds had accumulated directly above the glassy skywalk, but the rest of the sky above appeared to be clear.

Her nose cringed, her eyebrows furrowed, and her eyes narrowed. Nothing about the day was right.

"All right, cupcakes!" Coach Hedge bellowed. "Let's hurry up and fill out the worksheets. We may have to leave sooner than planned."

The clouds above shook and released gasps of thunder once more, and it began to make Thalia uneasy.

Unthinkingly, as a means of comfort, she reached into the pocket of her leather jacket and pulled out a golden coin. It was no bigger than a half-dollar, but it was definitely older. Its gold was worn but sturdy. It felt heavy in her palm. On one side of the coin was the right profile of a young man with wildly curled hair, wearing a headband with the horn of some animal; on the other side, the inscription _magnus alexandros _and a long sword.

_Magnus alexandros._

_Great Alexander_.

…Did she know an Alexander?

"Shit," Leo whistled. "Is that gold? You been holding out on us, man? Gotta say; kind of always suspected that you were loaded with cash. You have that royal attitude, you know?"

"It was in my pocket," Thalia answered simply, slipping it back where she had gotten it.

Leo didn't push the subject. He shrugged, smirking a little. "Don't look now, but those hot chicks are checking out your goods."

She glanced over her shoulder, glaring at him when he nudged her roughly. "What?"

"I said don't look!"

"I don't like that they're looking at me."

"Dude, we have to get started on this worksheet," Leo switched the subject, nervously making eye-contact with the rude girls. Although he didn't seem too excited about it, he took out a pencil. His brown eyes scanned the piece of printed paper. "Number one: list three examples of erosion."

"What the fuck is erosion?" Thalia was pretty sure that she hadn't even known that before she lost her memories.

Leo snorted. "Even if you don't remember anything, you're still the same, Freckle."

"Freckle?" Thalia repeated. "My name is Thalia."

"Oh, right," the Latino boy responded, frowning. "You don't remember your nickname. I call you Freckle, 'cause you've got these light freckles that run across your nose."

"I do?"

"You don't even remember what you look like?"

She stubbornly remained silent.

He dug around in his big army jacket before he pulled out a circular object. Flipping open its lid, he surrendered it to her hesitant hands.

Thalia stared into the little mirror, and it took her a moment to realize that she was the brunette peering into it. Leo was right; the freckles ran from cheek to cheek, traveling over the prominent bridge of her aquiline nose.

Her hair was dark black, curly, cropped and messy. It appeared as if it had never been combed. Her eyes were bright and big; they seemed to be a highly noticeable feature of hers. Within those optics, electric blue rings guarded the black sphere of her pupil. She surprised herself by the harshness she could spot. Her expression was unintentionally stern, and her eyes were almost angry as they stared back at her.

She supposed she could have been worse off. Her face was clear of any obvious blemishes, but there were subtle dark circles underneath her eyes. It was apparent to her that she had trouble sleeping often. She didn't like how pale she appeared to be. Some of her features were too sharp for her taste, too rough. The fierceness of her attributes gave her an almost intimidating appearance; it was no wonder why the other kids hadn't directly approached her yet.

Her face itself was one set in stone—statuesque, she thought, with the superlative lines and angles of a likeness of one of the gods.

Gods? Where had that come from?

She felt a dull thrumming in her temple and quickly pressed her hand against it. Something struck a chord within her, but it was lost as soon as it had afflicted her.

"You okay, man?" Leo asked, cautiously taking back his handy mirror. "Please don't say you're going to puke. The one day I don't bring my camera, something priceless like this happens."

"No," Thalia spoke clearly, softly. "It's just a headache. I'll be fine."

Minutes later, Thalia struggled to find answers for the questions on the worksheet. She didn't understand any of it. She couldn't even _read _the damn thing. The words and letters were jumbled and unintelligible. Something was seriously wrong with her.

Leo was of no help. He was creating miniature doodads, which might have impressed her if she hadn't been so preoccupied with being bewildered by everything.

"Sweet!" the Latino boy exclaimed, watching as some pipe-cleaner helicopter he made sailed into the canyon. "Did you see that?"

Thalia barely glanced up from the worksheet. "Yeah, yeah." She hummed a little in thought as she scribbled down yet another bullshit answer. "Leo?"

"Uh huh?"

"Are you sure that we're friends?"

"What do you mean?" he asked her, his bushy brows furrowed.

"Like…are you positive that we're even friends at all? I don't remember you. I don't remember any of this," she replied, waving her hands around. She incidentally flung the pencil over the railing, and she flushed in embarrassment as he laughed at her expense.

"You think you just appeared here, and we all have fake memories of you?"

Thalia nodded, but then stopped almost immediately. "Well, yeah, except for that Coach Bush guy."

"Coach Hedgehog," Leo provided, cracking a grin. "Get it right, Freckle."

"Whatever," she said. "If we're such good friends, tell me about myself. Seriously this time. No jokes."

"You're a lot meaner than you were—sterner," he answered, almost looking hurt. "You get in a lot of fights because you don't like people that act like they're above you. That's why so many of the kids here haven't said anything to you; they're scared of you. Uh, you like cheeseburgers…and Piper. If you could find a way to combine the two, you probably would."

"Who are my parents?"

Her eyes snapped shut as she felt a startling pain reside behind them. Unlike before, she saw a face at the mention of her parents. A blonde woman—tall, disorderly, wobbly—pulled her along as they bustled through an expensive store. It was the only face she saw.

Leo shrugged. "You never talk about them." He watched as she shakily opened her eyes. "Headache still?"

She nodded. In the distance, she spotted Coach Hedge, leaning against his baseball bat. "Hey, hold this," she said to Leo, handing him to worksheet. "I'll be right back."

Piper met her gaze and shot her a helpless look. Dylan was relentlessly hitting on her, touching all over her shoulder.

"I'm probably going to regret this, big time," Thalia muttered to herself, changing direction to get to the girlfriend she didn't remember at all. She didn't know why, but she felt a strange inclination to help these unfamiliar friends of hers—like it was a duty of hers or something.

"Pipes," she said, coming to stand in between her and Dylan. The boy had the nerve to look affronted as his arm was forced away from Piper's shoulder. "How's the worksheet coming along?"

The girl smiled widely at the question. "It could be going better, honestly."

Dylan scowled. "Why don't you go away?"

"I haven't heard of any law that states I can't check up on _my _friend."

"Girlfriend," she heard Piper correct under her breath.

Dylan snickered. "All you demigods are the same."

Demigods? Thalia's so-called headache came back full-force. Lightning sprinkled the oily sky, and the brisk wind burst through her jacket, tousled her cropped black hair, and nearly knocked her over. The skywalk shuddered from the sheer force of the storm, and the students of the Wilderness School screeched as they struggled to keep from falling into the steep canyon below.

Hedge screamed over the rush of the wind and lightning. "Everyone inside! Now! Off the skywalk!"


	2. II

**AN: **Thanks so much for the reviews. Thought I would update this while I could because I'm going to have a busy weekend. I will try my best to write the next chapter of the Sea of Monsters, but I can't make any promises. I'm almost done with the Distortion of Destiny though.

Oh, and by the way, Thalia's going to regain her memory faster than Jason did.

**Disclaimer: **Guess what? I don't own the Heroes of Olympus.

* * *

**Thalia II**

**The Son of Vulcan**

* * *

The great storm evolved into a miniature hurricane. The students ran for the building as funnel clouds whipped up their hats, notebooks, coats, and even their shoes. Thalia got smacked in the face with a good number of sandals and skidded across the floor.

Leo lost his balance and was about to topple over the glass railing, before Thalia leaped to her feet and grabbed for his jacket. She yanked him back, pushing him towards the exit.

"Thanks, bro," the Latino shouted over the wind, his eyes widened in panic.

Piper and Dylan were holding the huge doors open, ushering the other students inside. Piper's hair flew wildly across her face and even though she should have been terrified, she did not appear to be. Her voice was strong and confident as she reassured the girls who had relentlessly mocked her.

Thalia, Leo, and Coach Hedge rushed to get to the doors as well, but they couldn't seem to run through the wind like the others had. The raven-haired girl clenched her fists, wishing the wind would ease up. Wishing didn't seem to work.

Dylan and Piper managed to get one more kid inside before the doors unexplainably closed. Piper pulled the handles of the door as strongly as she could, but she wasn't able to get it to open.

"Dylan, help!" she shouted over the wind.

Dylan backed away, smiling as the wind blew through his mesh jersey. At least someone was able to enjoy the violent storm, Thalia supposed.

"Sorry, babe," he remarked. "I'm done helping."

With a flick of his wrist, a gust of air shot Piper backwards into the doors. She bounced off the door, sliding to the skywalk deck.

"Piper!" Leo yelled.

He and Thalia attempted to move forward to get to her, but Coach Hedge pushed them back. When Thalia felt his hand settle on her abdomen, she unthinkingly grabbed his wrist. She twisted his arm in a series of maneuvers, somehow breaking his fingers and pressing his wrist against his back.

Hedge cried out angrily, and it was then that Thalia realized what she had done.

Dylan chortled. "Oh, you're a trained one."

Not knowing what he meant and still shocked at her own actions, Thalia released the Coach's arm and ran for Piper. Despite the force of the wind pushing her back, she made it to the other girl in record time, shooting across the skywalk like a streak of lightning.

"How did you run that fast?" Leo shouted in surprise, but his question went ignored.

"You're going to get it after this, Amnesia Girl! For now, step back. This is my fight, kiddos!" Coach Hedge shouted, holding onto his injured hand. His eyes glared holes into Thalia's back as he watched her support Piper's head. "I should have known that this was our monster!"

"Monster?" Leo repeated, still amazed at the fact that his best friend had just broken Coach Hedge's fingers. "What monster?"

Hedge's hat flew off his head, revealing two—were those horns?—knots on the top of his head. He lifted his club, which had seemingly replaced his menacing baseball bat.

"C'mon, coach!" Dylan shouted with that annoying peppy smile. "Aren't you getting a little too old for this? Let the amnesiac fight me. She'll probably do a better job than you, grandpa!"

"You're going to get it now, punk!" Coach Hedge bleated.

Dylan gestured to Leo, laughing evilly as he was flung over the side of the railing. The Latino plunged downwards, latching onto a ledge about fifty-feet below the skywalk.

"Help would be nice!" Leo yelled fearfully.

Coach Hedge grumbled a foreign curse under his breath. Thalia didn't understand it at all. It sounded _strange_ to her, and not just because it was in another language.

"I don't know who the hell you are, punk," Hedge spoke to Thalia, tossing down his club. "But you might as well try and break some of _its_ fingers," he pointed to Dylan, "while I save Leo."

"How are you going to do that?" Thalia asked, peering over the side of the railing. "You can fly?"

"Not fly," he answered as if it were a hilarious concept. "Climb." He kicked off his shoes and Thalia had to slap herself in the face to realize she wasn't dreaming. Instead of feet, the coach had the hooves of a goat.

"You're a…you're a faun."

How did she know what a faun was?

Hedge bleated. "A satyr. Fauns are Roman, girl." Without anything else to say, he vaulted over the railing and glided over to the canyon wall. His hooves impacted with ledge after ledge with surprising agility.

Thalia didn't know why, but she pulled the coin from her pocket again. She barely registered Piper reaching for the long-forgotten club.

"What you got there, pretty girl?" Dylan taunted, eyeing Thalia with arrogance. "A coin? So menacing. Let me guess: you're going to tip me?"

"Here's a tip," Piper spoke up, twirling the club. "Duck."

Before he could, she tossed the club through the air. The strong winds carried it along until it roughly impacted with Dylan's head. The monster fell to his knees, golden blood trickling from the new gash in his forehead.

"You'll have to do better than that, bitch," Dylan spat.

When Thalia looked away from Piper again, Dylan had completely transformed. His entire body was composed of swirling, dark fog and he had wings that sprouted from his back.

"What are you?" Piper yelled in shock.

"Ventus," Thalia provided although she wasn't sure how she knew that. "A storm spirit."

Dylan laughed loudly, shaking the skywalk as he rose above it. Cracks appeared in the glass and the kids inside backed away fearfully.

"I'm glad I waited, half-blood! I've known about Leo and Piper for weeks, but I held off on killing them. My mistress said there would be a third coming, and she was right. My, my, what a prize you are. She'll enjoy your death."

Two additional funnel clouds spiraled down on either side of Dylan, and they formed into venti.

Thalia ordered Piper to the ground, and when the smaller girl failed to comply, the taller pushed her to the ground as gently as possible.

When Thalia spun back around, she was greeted with a blast of lightning to the stomach. It flung her backwards, sending her sailing into the doors. She crumbled to the ground, feeling the sparks traveling across the pale canvas of her skin.

She was energized; she was empowered; she was pissed the _fuck off_.

Dylan looked surprised when she gradually rose to her feet. "How—?"

Thalia snarled, instinctually flipping her golden coin in the air. She caught it when it came back down, and was only slightly stunned that she was now holding a sword—no, not just a sword; a Roman spatha, completely forged from gold.

"Kill her!" Dylan ordered, backing away.

Coward.

Thalia did a series of flips as lightning was shot at her from the two subordinate venti. They charged for her and while in midair, she spun around and sliced through one of them with her sword. It disintegrated instantly. Before the other could retreat, she swiftly disposed of it as well.

Dylan screamed in outrage whenever his partners did not reform. "Impossible! Who are you, demigod?"

"I'm Thalia," she retorted spitefully. "You'd do well to remember that."

Coach Hedge jumped back onto the skywalk, dropping Leo effortlessly. "Sprits, fear me!" he bellowed, flexing his short arms. "Hey, where'd they go?"

"Thalia got rid of them!" Piper exclaimed, having got up from the floor seconds before. She rushed over to the raven-haired girl, wrapping her arms tightly around her. "That was amazing."

Thalia gently pushed the other girl away, sending her an apologetic smile. She didn't remember the girl and even though she knew it probably hurt Piper, she didn't feel very comfortable with how forward the smaller girl was acting.

"Shit, kid," Hedge cursed. "You couldn't have left anything for me?"

Leo grumbled. "Listen, Coach Supergoat, I just fucking fell into the Grand Canyon. I'd really appreciate it if you stopped asking for trouble."

Dylan hissed threateningly. "You don't realize how many enemies you have beckoned, half-blood. My mistress will destroy all demigods. This war you cannot win."

Thalia didn't like the way he had said _this war_—as if there had been one before.

A giant hole opened in the sky above—a vortex of black and silver.

Dylan cackled. "My mistress calls me! And, you, demigod, will come with me!"

He dove for Thalia, but Piper tackled the wind spirit, somehow making physical contact. They all rushed forward to help Piper, but the spirit released a loud screech. Thalia, Hedge, and Leo were all flung several feet. Piper was tossed carelessly with the wind, landing on the opposite side of the rail. She was left hanging by one hand over the canyon. She wouldn't be able to save herself like Leo had.

A scream ripped through her throat as the Native American girl slipped. She went tumbling into the frightful abyss below. Without hesitance, without indecision, Thalia ran to the railing, and used one of her capable hands to lift her willowy body above it. She barely registered Leo's yells behind her as she plunged through the open air.

It hit her when she was halfway through her fall: she had just leaped into the Grand freaking Canyon for some chick that she didn't even know. And for the love of Julius Caesar, it was such a long way down. She was afraid of heights. _She was afraid of heights._

Thalia forced herself to focus. There was no time for fear. She could always look back on this memory and tremble about it then.

She tucked her arms in and sailed downwards headfirst. Her skin felt impossibly tight around her bones, but she only concentrated on getting to Piper. Faster than she thought possible, she reached Piper. Wrapping her arms tightly around the smaller girl, she clenched her eyes shut.

Rather than resignation, confidence filled her. They wouldn't hit the bottom of the canyon. She wouldn't let them.

Piper was wailing frantically in her ears, and Thalia was trying desperately to refrain from telling her to shut up for two measly seconds.

The wind died abruptly. Piper quieted, as if shocked into her silence. Thalia knew without opening her eyes that they had been halted in midair. She could sense the inactivity around them.

Finally, her eyelids fluttered open when she felt Piper turning into her embrace. Piper buried her head in the crook of Thalia's neck, tightly gripping her shirt. Thalia, unsure and a tad bit uncomfortable, rested her hand against the nape of Piper's neck.

"We're okay now," she whispered shakily and—she hoped—reassuringly.

"How did you do that?"

"I don't know," Thalia responded honestly. "I don't think it was me. I just thought about how it would be nice if we didn't fall."

Wrong. She had _commanded _that they wouldn't fall, but Piper didn't need to know that bit of information.

Piper sniffled. "The air is supporting us, isn't it?"

Thalia thought for a moment. "Yes. It is."

"Can you…?"

Thalia realized what the girl was asking and attempted to comply. She thought about the air supporting them higher, lifting them to the skywalk. They shot upwards, and Piper gripped Thalia's shirt even tighter. It was only moments before they landed and the two of them rushed towards their fallen companion.

Piper reached him first, turned him over, and examined his ashen face. Leo coughed before opening his eyes. He scowled at the sight of his soaked army jacket. His curly brown hair and his clothes were covered in golden monster dust, and he had a black eye that Piper inspected worriedly.

If Thalia didn't know better, she would've assumed that the two of them were the ones that were dating.

"Stupid Supergoat," Leo muttered through strings of continuous coughing.

"Where did he go?" Thalia asked—more like demanded—quickly.

Leo pointed straight up. "He never came down. Please tell me he didn't actually save my life."

"He saved your ass twice," Thalia confirmed. She outstretched a hand, pulling Leo to his feet. "How're you feeling?"

"Confused." Leo rubbed the back of his sore head. "What the hell happened, dude? I recall that storm guy, the gold sword…I'm hallucinating, is that it? Coach Hedge must've snuck something strange into our lunches or something—just a joke to laugh about at the next P.T.A meeting."

"Afraid not," Thalia responded, walking over to pick up her discarded sword. She flipped it, watching as it turned back into a coin mid-spin. When it landed back in her palm, she slipped it back into her pocket.

Piper shivered from the cold. Her wet snowboarding jacket was doing little to protect her from the harsh weather conditions. "Thalia…who are you?"

"I wish I could tell you."

Something in the sky caught Leo's attention and he narrowed her eyes. "Uh, sorry to break the news, but we've got more company."

They all looked up to see what appeared to be a flying chariot. The humungous object floated down from the sky and landed on the cracked skywalk with a frightening creak.

Thalia was now convinced that she had seen it all. A large chariot being pulled by two winged horses wasn't an everyday sight. Yet, even more surprising than the chariot were the two people that climbed out of it.

One of the teenagers—a tall, mahogany-eyed girl with short-cut brown hair—loudly stomped their way. The girl with her seemed to be much friendlier, with calm gray eyes and a curly blonde ponytail. The blonde spoke to the three first.

"Judging by your conditions, I'm going to guess that you're the demigods we're supposed to retrieve," she said straightforwardly.

"Demigods?" Piper asked. She looked to Thalia. "That's what Dylan and Hedge called us."

"Gleeson Hedge," the rough-looking girl spoke for the first time. "He's your protector. Where is he?"

Leo cleared his throat. "He was taken by these tornado things."

"Venti," Thalia supplied without missing a beat.

"Anemoi thuellai," the blonde corrected. "You used their Roman name." Romans—why did everyone keep bring them up? "Who are you, and what happened?"

Thalia explained that she had no idea who she was. She gave them her name and told them what had happened on the skywalk just minutes ago. With every word from her mouth, the blonde girl looked more and more distressed.

"What do you think, Annabeth?" the brunette girl beside her asked.

"This is a lot more complicated than a simple extraction mission," Annabeth answered. She glanced to the skies. "We should get back to Chiron. He needs to know about this."

The other nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

"I usually am, Warrior Babe."

"Warrior Babe?" Leo repeated, obviously trying not to laugh. "Your parents must have hated you to name you that."

"It's Clarisse La Rue to you," the brunette snapped. "Only Annabeth can call me Warrior Babe and get away with it."

Annabeth had a sly little smirk on her face, but she changed the subject. "I know your minds are probably screaming 'stranger danger' right now, but we'd like you to come with us to Camp Half-Blood, a safe place for kids—"

"Get in the goddamn chariot," Clarisse interrupted. She saw Annabeth glaring at her, and quickly softened her eyes. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Annabeth mumbled with a roll of her eyes. "Come with us," she addressed the labeled-demigods.

Leo and Piper looked to their memory-lacking friend, as if waiting for her approval. Thalia couldn't see how her opinion could possibly matter; she was the one that didn't have a single clue.

Deciding reluctantly to appease them, she followed after the blonde girl, Annabeth, and the threatening Clarisse.

Thirty minutes later, Thalia was standing in the back of the flying chariot alongside her pretend friends. Piper was mushed between her and Leo, but the two were ignoring her many complaints. Clarisse, who had introduced herself as the daughter of Ares, handled the reins, while Annabeth, who had said she was the daughter of Athena and girlfriend to Clarisse, fiddled around with a bronze navigation device.

Thalia had to admit that she was surprised by the news; how could someone as fiery as Clarisse be in love with someone as level-headed as Annabeth?

Speaking of Annabeth and Clarisse, they were demigods.

They were _all_ demigods—half-mortal, half-god. Out of the three newbies, Thalia was taking the information the best.

For some reason, it hadn't surprised her. Sure; she was the one that had known about her sword, and she was the one who had fought off the spirits, and she was the one who hadn't even flinched whenever their rescuers had told them about their parentage, but she would have liked to say that the information was new to her. The truth was it wasn't. Every word out of their mouths—_you're all demigods, one of your parents is a god, you have enhanced abilities_—was a bunch of word vomit. Thalia felt that even though she didn't remember anything, she had been told all of those things in the past.

Piper and Leo looked pretty freaked although they both attempted to mask it as best as they could.

"Tell me about this camp," Thalia spoke.

She could feel Piper's curious and sad eyes on her, but she did her best to ignore it. The last thing she needed was to latch onto someone else while she was this vulnerable—clueless and unaware.

"It's in the east. It's a haven for kids like us," Annabeth answered whenever she realized that her girlfriend was too caught up with driving. "The only safe place for half-bloods."

"Half-blood," Piper murmured. Thalia was surprised by the bitterness in her voice. "Is that some kind of joke? Is my race really that funny to everyone?"

"Hey, yeah," Leo said, indignant once he had caught on. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Not what you think it does, Leonardo," Clarisse finally spoke, turning around to glare at the three teenagers. "Don't raise your voice to my girlfriend like that or I'll knock your nuts into your brain."

"Baby, calm down," Annabeth soothed, rubbing Clarisse's forearm. "I'll explain everything to them. You just focus on getting us to camp."

Seemingly convinced, the daughter of Ares spun back around to face the horizon, her fingers gripping the reins just a little tighter.

The Athenian sighed quietly in relief. "A half-blood is someone who is half-mortal and half-god. You know, like Heracles, Daedalus, and debatably Theseus."

"Perseus," Piper added helpfully. "Those guys?"

Annabeth nodded. "That's right. You're very smart."

The Native American girl blushed. "Thank you."

Thalia glanced over her shoulder and eyed the multiplying storm clouds behind them.

Leo hummed. "So…like Jason?"

Thalia was so stunned that she nearly fell off the chariot. _Jason. _The name electrocuted her—not in a literal, physical sense, but rather mentally. Her brain prodded at her, encouraging her to remember _Jason_. She would've tumbled down into Arizona if Leo hadn't grabbed her by the arm.

Annabeth eyed her suspiciously, but continued to reply to the Latino. "No, Jason wasn't a demigod. He was a hero, true, but he had no godly blood. He _was_ favored by Hera though."

"Oh," Leo said simply.

Piper erupted into laughter. "Come on, you nutbags."

"What did you just call us?" Clarisse snarled.

"This is obviously some sort of joke," the smallest girl urged. "Us? Children of the gods? You've got to be kidding. You don't seriously think—"

Clarisse threw the reins to Annabeth, who caught them easily. The daughter of Ares barged right up to Piper and placed her hands on her shoulders, effortlessly lifting the small girl until their eyes were level.

Lighting flashed around them, but none of them seemed to be aware of it.

"Listen here, Ms. Priss," Clarisse growled. "You're on a _flying_ chariot, pulled by _flying_ horses, and I personally don't give a _flying _fuck if you end up falling out of it. Now, in case you didn't notice—"

"In case _you _didn't notice," Thalia remarked casually, cutting into the demigoddess' tirade, "the left wheel is on fire."

Clarisse instantly stopped, nearly tossing Piper into Leo. She leaned over the edge and raised her eyebrows when she witnessed the white hot flames licking the side of the chariot. Then, she changed her focus to the storm clouds behind them. "Annabeth, more anemoi!"

Leo cracked a smirk. "Ooh, this time in horse-form."

Annabeth didn't hesitate to surrender the reins to her girlfriend. "Hold on, guys. This is about to get rough."

With a flick of the reins, Clarisse sent them spiraling through a wall of white clouds. The pegasi were bullets breaking through the flesh of the sky. Their supersonic speed slowed once they were above a completely different place.

Thalia's eyes found the steely ocean in the distance, and her pupils traced the forest scenery below them. In a lush green valley, she soon spotted a cluster of buildings, or rather little ancient temples, and a sizable blue mansion.

There were many other things to see, but Thalia didn't exactly get the chance. The wheels to the chariot plopped off, and they went free-falling into the valley. The horses struggled to support the weight of the five demigods, but they seemed far too tired.

"Aim for the lake, honey," the daughter of Athena advised, trying to keep the panic from her voice.

"I know what I'm doing, Owl Head!"

"You can't be seriously talking to me like that," Annabeth snapped. "You're always trying to dominate everything. Why can't you just accept logical, intelligent advice from someone—"

"Oh, I lack logic and intelligence, is that it?"

"Knock it off," Thalia ordered.

Clarisse released the reins stupidly, poised to punch Thalia in the face.

"Clarisse! Get away from her!" Annabeth screamed. "Gods, you're always trying to prove something, aren't you? And I thought I was the one with hubris!"

"_Shut up_!" Piper shouted the command. Everyone ceased talking at her instruction, merely staring at her in shocked silence. "Clarisse, get away from Thalia and grab the reins. Now." The daughter of Ares did what she said quickly. "Aim for the lake, like your girlfriend told you to do. She's the child of the Goddess of Wisdom. If you should take anyone's advice, it should be hers."

Annabeth looked smug, but quickly wiped it from her face whenever she noticed they were seconds away from hitting the water.

Thalia braced herself, gulping in a breath of glorious air before they plunged into the icy lake. She was submerged for a measly second before some powerful force pitched her out. She landed on her ass on the shore, gasping for breath and freezing cold.

Annabeth, Leo, and Piper followed soon after although they were gently assisted by giggling girls that seemed to dwell in the lake. Clarisse was just coming out of the lake, ordering the "damn sons of Hephaestus" to cut the pegasi free.

Thalia unsteadily rose to her feet, disliking the copious amount of lake water in her combat boots. She was blasted in the face by some retro-looking bronze hot-air dispenser, and within seconds she was dry; the water in her boots had vanished. With a little smile, she acknowledged that maybe the camp wouldn't be as bad as she thought it would be.

Feeling hot in her jacket even though it was incredibly cold outside, Thalia shrugged the leather garment off.

There were over twenty campers surrounding them, and none of them appeared to be very pleased. One even seemed quite angry—a blonde boy with a quiver on his back—and he stormed over to Annabeth.

"I said you could borrow the chariot, not destroy it!" He glanced to Clarisse. "I knew I should've known that this would happen, what with her traveling with you and all."

"Watch your mouth, Solace!'

"Whatever." He scowled.

"Will, I'm sorry," Annabeth said sincerely. "I'll get it fixed. Promise."

Will sighed, but eventually gave her a small smile. "I know you will." He scowled again when he observed the new campers. "These are the kids you were sent to retrieve? They're over thirteen. Why haven't they been claimed?"

"Claimed?" Leo repeated. Then, jokingly, he added, "No one claims and tames Valdez."

He went ignored.

An Asian girl stepped forward, wearing the same orange t-shirt and jeans that the other campers were wearing. Even though she should've blended in, she did the exact opposite; her beauty made her stand out in the crowd of others. Her dark hair was curled perfectly, like Annabeth's but less natural, and her face was delicate and covered in makeup.

"I hope they're worth the trouble," the new girl remarked.

Leo snickered. "Thalia and I haven't begun to show you trouble, right man?" At Thalia's confused look, the Latino frowned. "Oh, I forgot. You don't remember."

"We allowed you to drag us here, threaten us," Thalia shot a pointed look to Clarisse, "drop us into a freezing lake, and toss us back out of it. I hardly think it's _us _that have been causing the trouble."

"Thalia," Annabeth said with a sigh. "We'll answer any questions you have. Just give us time." She glanced to the Asian girl. "And Drew, _all _demigods are worth saving."

Clarisse nodded in agreement, walking up to her girlfriend and placing her arm around her. "If we had the option to pick-and-choose, you definitely wouldn't be here right now."

Drew seethed but seemed to be too intimidated by the daughter of Ares to actually reply. She turned harsh, scrutinizing eyes to Piper. "Does your hair always look like a dead badger?"

Piper abruptly stepped forward, about to smack the other girl.

Leo prevented her from doing so, wrapping an arm around her waist. "C'mon, diva. Simmer down."

"I told you not to call me that," Piper hissed, slapping him on the arm.

"We need to make our new campers feel welcome," Annabeth said, pointedly glaring at Drew. "We'll assign them each a guide to give them a tour of camp. Hopefully by the campfire tonight, they'll be claimed."

"Would someone please enlighten us?" Piper asked loudly. "What does claimed mean?"

Thalia arched an eyebrow at the sight of the suddenly-there red, holographic image above Leo's head. It was a hammer surrounded by fire.

I would say it's that," she answered, pointing at it. "You're the son of Vulcan."

"Hephaestus," Annabeth spoke firmly. Her eyes were steely as they settled over Thalia. It was then that the brunette noticed that every eye was on them. "How did you know that?"

Thalia shrugged. "Call it intuition."

"I'm calling it suspicious," Annabeth muttered, but did not go unheard. Looking to Leo, she began to explain, "Hephaestus is the god of blacksmiths and fire. He has claimed you."

"So…you're saying that this Asbestos guy is my father?"

"Hephaestus," Piper corrected. "She said Hephaestus."

"Toe-may-toe, toe-mah-toe."

Quickly, the image faded away, but Leo kept glancing up as if he expected it to appear again. He reminded Thalia of a little monkey—the way he was jumping and swatting above his head.

"Will," Annabeth said. "Would you mind taking Leo on a tour? Introducing him to his new cabin-mates?

"Cabin? What cabin?" Leo asked. "I'm not Vulcan-anything!"

"Come along, Mr. Spock," the son of Apollo joked good-naturedly. "I'll explain everything."

Annabeth's keen eyes caught sight of something as she turned to stare at Thalia, and she immediately commanded her: "Hold out your arm."

Thalia glanced down, yielding her right arm out to the daughter of Athena. She saw what the girl was so surprised about—the pale canvas of the tall girl's skin was marred by the inky image of an eagle. Directly beneath it were the letters SPQR and seven lines—like some sort of barcode, marking her worth.

"That—you didn't have that before," Piper muttered.

"I've never seen marks like this," Annabeth said. "Where did you get them?"

"Beats me," Thalia said. She ran her fingers over it as something in her mind reminded her of a burning pain. "Some sleazy tattoo parlor?"

"No," Annabeth said with a shake of her head. "The image is far too intricate and permanent. It almost looks like it was burned into your skin."

The burning pain flashed in Thalia's mind again. "I think it was. I don't know."

Everyone suddenly went silent as they rushed to peer at her arm. Thalia didn't like the special attention, but she tried her best to mask the fact that it was getting to her. Several campers were glancing to Annabeth, as if waiting for her to make a decision.

"Chiron needs to know about this," the daughter of Athena announced, analyzing the amnesiac like she would a geometric theorem. Her gray eyes then turned to search the crowd. "I need someone to take Thalia to the Big House, while I take care of some things."

Thalia arched an eyebrow in question when she watched the girl from earlier—Drew—step forward. With a flirty smile, the Asian girl locked their arms and tugged Thalia away from the crowd and towards the mansion—the place Annabeth had called the _Big House_. Thalia barely registered Piper's mumbled curses as she was pulled farther and farther away from the lake.


	3. III

**AN: **Any reviews are appreciated. Also considering changing around some of the pairings (though not drastically or anything), so feel free to make any suggestions. Looking forward to updating my other stories soon.

* * *

**Thalia III**

**A Little Too Roman**

* * *

"The Big House," Drew informed rather cheerfully. "Headquarters here at camp."

The Big House wasn't anything impressive. As indicated by its name, it was rather large—four-stories high—and painted a light blue. There was an average porch that wrapped around the structure, littered with rocking chairs and tables. It looked more like a vacation home than a shelter for godlings.

Even though the place seemed friendly enough, it seemed to be warning Thalia. It was eerily silent on the outside of the building, and the weather vane abruptly ceased to twirl on the highest gable, as if her presence had somehow disturbed its routine.

Instinct was telling her to run. It was urging her to pull her arm away from the flirtatious daughter of Aphrodite and flee to the tall, intimidating pine on Half-Blood Hill. But it was also telling her that she didn't run from anything. She was no coward; she was above fleeing.

Although she felt as if she were walking amongst sworn enemies, she composed her uneasiness with a chilly smirk.

"Not very impressive," she muttered, making sure that the other girl would be able to hear her casual remark. "Listen, I don't know about this. I'm not all that crazy about this place."

"Oh, please," Drew soothed. "This place is perfect for you. I know a true hero when I see one. I've met enough around here. You've got the makings, cutie."

Thalia was beginning to notice that flattery picked at her quite often. She didn't remember anything about herself, but she wasn't so sure that she received this much attention from others before. She had seen herself; she wasn't anything special. So, why was this girl making such a fuss about her?

Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, she pulled her arm away from Drew's.

The daughter of Aphrodite pouted. "Don't tell me you're seeing the Thrift-Store Queen."

"Drew, you're very pretty," Thalia admitted, "but a relationship is the last thing on my mind right now. It's just going to complicate things."

Drew acted as if she hadn't heard. "Oh, I'm willing to be right beside you, all the way, sweet thing. I mean…you _are _really powerful, right? You're going to be very important here at camp, and I'll support you along the way."

Well that answered her previous question. Drew was only showing her attention because she thought Thalia was some kind of big-shot. The daughter of Aphrodite wasn't really attracted to her.

"Is your dad or mom a god?"

"What?"

"Which one of your parents is a god?" Drew rephrased.

Thalia glanced at her combat boots, pondering over the question. She thought of the image of the blonde woman that had shaken her earlier in the day—the tall figure leading her through a store.

"My father," she answered mindlessly. "My father's a god."

"Is that so?" a voice called from the porch.

Thalia glanced to the person who spoke, only to nearly fall on her ass in surprise. From the waist up, the man was fully human, but below that he had the body of a horse. She had heard of these creatures before, hadn't she?

Centaurs, they were called.

"Chiron!" Drew exclaimed. "This is Thalia. She's one of the demigods War Bitch and Book Worm retrieved."

The centaur's wise brown eyes glowed with suspicion. "Welcome to camp, Thalia. Please, follow me."

He trotted to a wheelchair, ordering Drew to return to her cabin. Thalia watched—entranced—as he somehow scrunched his lower half into the mechanism, and a set of fake legs quickly covered him. Chiron now appeared as an average handicapped person.

He rolled his way into the Big House, Thalia following obediently behind him. Upon entering, she was both intrigued and bothered.

Grapevines seemed to be growing across the walls, and over small decorative ornaments—masks and such. There was a crackling fireplace, somehow homely and threatening at the same time, and smooth leather couches that looked as if they had never been touched.

Thalia heard a loud snarl and glanced up at the fireplace. A moving leopard's head barred its teeth at her and she retreated behind Chiron.

"Now, Seymour," the centaur spoke, lecturing the bodiless creature. "Thalia here is a friend. Behave yourself, or you'll go without supper."

"Please tell me that's some kind of robot," Thalia begged. "You guys are some kind of engineering camp, yeah?"

"You must excuse the décor," Chiron said, amused. "Our old camp director did all of this before he left to Mount Olympus. I suppose he wanted us to remember him. He has a strange sense of humor."

"Your old director?"

"Yes, the God of Wine."

"Bacchus?" Thalia asked unthinkingly.

Chiron stared at her, not even the slightest bit appalled, and replied, "Bacchus is his Roman form, yes. Here, we Greeks know him as Dionysus."

"Why does everyone keep bringing them up?"

"Greeks, my dear?"

"No," she said simultaneously with a shake of her head. "Romans."

Chiron did not answer directly. He motioned for the girl to sit on the couches, and when she did he forced a smile. "Would you mind telling me where you are from?"

"I don't know," she responded, irritation leaking through her words.

She was getting tired of not knowing—of having to tell her story over and over again until these _Greeks _got the information they seemed to need. Nevertheless, she ended up telling the whole thing to Chiron. Maybe he could be the one to finally give her the answers she wanted.

"What are your questions?" Chiron inquired once the story was over.

"What's the deal with this place?"

"Pardon?"

"That girl—Annabeth—was confused by _this_," Thalia enunciated, pointing to the tattoo on her forearm. "The weathervane outside stopped spinning to point directly at me, and that leopard _still _looks like he wants to tear my face off. Which reminds me, it's super creepy that you actually named it _Seymour_."

"You're very different, Thalia."

"Yeah, I sort of got that. I'm a demigod, right?"

"Yes, but that isn't what I meant," Chiron said, meeting her gaze. "You're very different from the campers here." He turned his eyes to the fire. "You say you don't remember anything?"

"Nothing."

Chiron appeared to be displeased. Well, it was a party of freaking two.

"Before you lost your memory, you most likely knew you were a demigod," the centaur said eventually. "Were you claimed?"

There was something different about the way he spoke, but Thalia understood it perfectly and responded before she realized what was happening. "_Fortasse_."

Chiron scowled. "It's just as I believed."

Thalia uncomfortably shifted her boots against the soft carpet.

"You speak Latin," the centaur replied, obviously trying to keep his voice level. "Most demigods are able to recognize a few phrases, but their brains are hardwired for Ancient Greek. None can speak it fluently without practice."

Thalia wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"You are unlike any hero I have taught before," Chiron said. "Your presence here could be a disaster."

"How inspiring," Thalia spoke mordantly. "Any other tips you can give me, oh great teacher?"

"I am sorry, but I only tell the truth." The centaur actually looked sincere, so she felt slightly bad for her response to him. "I had hoped that after Percy had saved Olympus, we might have some peace. I am beginning to suspect that I was terribly mistaken. The worst is yet to come."

"Who's Percy?" was the only question Thalia could bring herself to ask.

"That would be me." A tall boy appeared in the doorway and reluctantly made his way to the leather couch, sitting down next to Thalia. "Percy Jackson, Son of Poseidon" he introduced himself. "You can think of me as the Head Pawn of the Gods. You must be the one everyone is making a fuss about."

"That's great," she muttered under her breath. Then, speaking louder, she said, "I'm Thalia."

"Percy, my boy, not that I'm not glad to see you, but what are you doing here?" Chiron asked.

"Annabeth is busy, Rachel is nowhere to be found, Clarisse doesn't even feel like trying to beat me up, and Nico had to visit a relative or something," the demigod said with a hint of disappointment in his voice. "I have nothing else to do, so I thought I'd check out the new campers. I couldn't find the other two, and Drew told me the cutest one was in here." He turned his sea-green eyes to her. "Oh, by the way, she says hi."

"Wow," Thalia scoffed. "She's persistent."

"You have _no _idea," Percy agreed. "She followed me around for weeks after she first got to camp. Nico finally flipped out on her and threatened to ban her soul to Tartarus, and that was enough to get her to back off."

"Can I borrow that Nico friend of yours?"

Percy laughed, throwing his head back. "Sorry, dude. I don't share."

Chiron cut into their light and airy conversation. "While it is lovely that the two of you are getting along, I'd like to return to our previous, _private _discussion."

"Oh, I get it," Percy said, feigning offence. "You said private like that because you want me to leave."

"Yes," Chiron responded simply, truthfully.

"But—"

Percy abruptly stopped talking. Thalia glanced to him, confused to see that he seemed as if he had been frozen. She realized then that she no longer heard the crackling of embers or the snarling of the leopard.

"Chiron, what—" she began to ask, but stopped once she saw that the centaur was unresponsive in every sense of the word.

"What the actual fuck?" she wondered aloud. She leaped from the couch, fully alert, and rolled her trusty coin around in her palm. "What's going on?"

_Thalia, _someone rasped.

Seymour's mouth, though immobile, was pried open by some strong force, and out curled a violet current of mist. The purple fog took the form of a tall woman, covered in black robes and a goatskin cloak. Her face was hidden beneath a dark hood, but her eyes glowed beneath—challenging, bold.

_Would you attack the goddess that vouched for you ten summers ago? That saved you from certain death when you were a mere child? _the woman inquired with a certain maternal disappointment in her tone. _Place Magnus back into your pocket. We have much to discuss in just a short time._

"What—?"

_Sit down._

Thalia immediately plopped down onto the couch. There was something about this woman—something that she recognized. Something dangerous.

_This very well might be the last time we speak. My prison only grows stronger and stronger by the hour. I have managed to bring you here, but I am afraid that my power is wearing down._

"Look, lady. I don't know you. You must have me mistaken for someone else. Maybe you were influenced by the Mist thing that Piper and Leo were."

_You know me, _the woman insisted. _You are mine. I am your patron. _

"I don't remember you. I can't."

_It was necessary to take your memories from you, _the misty form reasoned. _You see, I have owned you and your brother from birth. I was wary about using you instead of Jason—he's a lot more respectful of the gods—but you fit the part._

"Jason? My brother?" Thalia asked numbly, feeling her head begin to throb painfully. Then she realized something that the woman had said. "Wait…_you _are the one that took my memory?"

_Find my prison. Free me, or their king will rise from the earth, and I will be destroyed. You will never retrieve your memory._

Thalia laughed dryly, incredulously. "Are _you _threatening _me_?" She stood, suddenly commanding and larger than life. "You dare to pull this shit with me? You know what? Keep my goddamn memory. I'd rather let you rot in that prison anyway."

_You wish to fail your father? You wish to shame the Legion once more?_

For some reason, the jibes had bothered Thalia. She froze, her blue eyes bravely meeting those glowing spheres of black.

The smirk dissolved from Thalia's face, and the woman took her silence as resignation.

_You have until sunset on the solstice, Thalia. Four short days. Do not fail me. Do not fail your people again._

The woman dissipated into a cloud of mist and flew back through the leopard's gaping mouth.

"Crazy bitch."

In an instant, everything was back into motion. Seymour began to cough; the flames of the fireplace licked at the brick structure.

Percy was finishing his sentence: "I'll keep everything a secret. You're always letting Annabeth barge in on your little interrogations! Why can't I?"

"Percy," Chiron began to say, and then noticed Thalia's stance. "How did you stand up so fast? My gods, you were just sitting down a second ago."

"Time froze," Thalia answered as if it were the simplest concept in the world. She looked to Chiron. "I guess that's not very common around here."

"Unless you're battling Kronos," she heard Percy mutter.

"What do you mean, dear?" Chiron answered, concerned. "How did time freeze?"

"Some misty woman flew out of Seymour's mouth," the leopard snarled and snapped its teeth, "and told me a bunch of weird shit. She said she was my patron and saved me when I was young or something. She says that she is imprisoned and needs me to return the favor and free her."

Chiron hummed. "That explains a lot." Percy and Thalia fixed him with blank stares. "We will talk about this shortly. First, we must—"

The door to the Big House slammed open. A flash of blonde hair flew into the room before Thalia found herself on the floor. Percy was knocked off as well, and they landed on their backs side-by-side. They groaned in pain simultaneously.

"What the fuck was that about?" Thalia grumbled, leaning up on her elbows. When she saw Piper passed out on the couch where she had just been sitting, supported by a pretty redheaded girl, Thalia leapt to her feet. "What happened to her?"

Annabeth was standing beside the redhead and the unconscious Piper. She quickly helped Percy to his feet. "Sorry about that, Seaweed Brain."

Percy rubbed his sore butt. "Yeah, yeah. Sure you are."

"Can we please focus on the girl who I may or may not have killed earlier?" the redhead asked loudly, tears streaming down her face.

"Killed?" Thalia repeated, her eyes searching the girl's face. "What do you mean _killed_?"

"Like made her heart stop beating?" Percy asked bluntly, as if he was trying to be helpful. He failed.

Thalia threw him a seething glare. "Shut up."

"I was just trying to help!" the son of Poseidon argued.

"Stop it!" the redhead yelled. "Just…stop it!" Silence filled the room—even Annabeth and Chiron abruptly stopped whispering to one another. "Annabeth, get me a med kit." The daughter of Athena hurried to comply. "Percy, new kid, reposition Piper so that she's lying flat on her back."

Thalia reluctantly did what she said. "It's not new kid."

The redhead sighed, but sent her an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry. I'm just a little freaked out right now." She outstretched a hand. "Rachel Elizabeth Dare, at your service. I'm the Oracle."

Thalia's strawberry-tinted lips twitched into a smile. "Thalia."

Percy grunted. "Stop with the flirting. We have a possible dead person on our hands."

"Right," Thalia said, clapping her hands sharply. "So…what do we do?"

The son of Poseidon contemplated the question for a moment before shrugging. "I don't know."

Rachel pressed her fingers against Piper's neck and sighed in relief. "She's still breathing. I think she's just out of it."

"You got us riled up for nothing?" Percy asked.

Chiron rolled his wheelchair over to the couch. He pressed a hand to her forehead and scowled. "She's in a very fragile mental state. This is extremely serious, my boy."

The son of Poseidon, speaking with a voice that oozed leadership, turned to Rachel. "What happened? Explain it to us."

"I'm not even sure myself. I had a strange urge to go to Hera's cabin and when I did, Piper and Annabeth showed up. We talked for a while, and then I just blacked out. Annabeth said I spoke with a weird voice—it wasn't the spirit of Delphi either. Some power was trying to speak through me."

Annabeth finally rushed back into the room, toting a leather satchel. She opened it up hurriedly, handing a vial of something to Chiron. "What happened back there—Chiron, it was unexplainable. I've never seen anything like it. One moment we were all just fine, and then Rachel starting speaking in an old woman's voice and—"

"Annabeth, dear, it's quite all right," Chiron assured. "Do you remember what she said?"

"She grabbed Rachel by the shoulders and she said—"

"To free her?" Thalia guessed. She smirked, wiping a strand of hair from Piper's heated forehead. "Seems we have a common visitor, Pipes."

"How did you know that?" Annabeth asked.

For the second time, Thalia repeated her tale about the misty woman. Chiron sprinkled some substance from the vial into Piper's slack-jawed mouth.

The son of Poseidon was the first to speak after the story. "So, she's your patron? Is that your parent?"

"No," Annabeth answered for her.

"My father's a god," Thalia added. "Not my mother."

Rachel hummed thoughtfully, still eyeing Piper in concern. "So, this lady, what does she want? Besides to be freed, I mean. Why you?"

"She said she vouched for me once and saved me. She mentioned someone—a brother of mine. She wanted to use him, but she went for me instead. After robbing me of my memories, she expects me to return the favor of her saving me all those years ago."

Annabeth narrowed her eyes. "There's only one goddess that manipulative—"

"Dear," the centaur interrupted. "Let's not get Thalia even more confused. We'll take everything as it comes."

Rachel gasped. "Chiron. That woman—she was Hera, wasn't she? I was in her cabin, I spoke with her voice. She appeared to Thalia at the same time."

"Hera?" Annabeth's snarl was a lot more fearful than Seymour's. "I knew it. She's up to playing her games again. She did this to Piper."

"That's why she had a goatskin cloak," Thalia realized aloud. "The symbol of Juno."

Percy scrunched his nose. "I just imagined Hera in goatskin—not a pretty sight. And that's a symbol—"

Chiron nodded. "Of Juno, yes, in her most warlike state. It was the symbol of a Roman soldier."

"Hera is imprisoned then?" Rachel wondered. "She needs heroes to free her?"

"She needs me to," Thalia said. "And Piper?"

"No," Annabeth said with a stern shake of her head. "She wasn't telling Piper to free her. Her exact words were: 'two half-bloods will free me'."

"So, two campers then?" Percy asked, his eyebrows scrunching together. "Not three?"

Chiron frowned. "This is bad, children. Very bad. But you have broken the three-camper rule before. I'm sure that's the least of our concerns."

"What do you figure is our biggest concern?" the daughter of Athena asked.

"In many ways, Hera is the glue that holds the Olympian Council together. If she is truly imprisoned and in danger of destruction, it could shake the foundations of the world. It could unravel the stability of Olympus, which is never great even in the best of times. Hera has asked Thalia for help, and I am inclined to permit it."

"Are you even going to ask me how I feel about this?" Thalia asked bluntly. At the blank stare from Chiron and Annabeth and the smirk from Percy, she sighed. "No? Okay. Just checking."

Percy stared into the fire. "We're all pawns here, Thalia."

"Don't say that," Annabeth lectured halfheartedly. "As heroes, we are the gods' connection to the mortal world. They need us to do their will. It is against the ancient laws for them to interfere directly. Hera can't be saved by the Olympians—she has to be saved by a hero."

"The fates of heroes are intertwined with the gods," Rachel elaborated. "Right?"

"Right," the daughter of Athena affirmed.

"We do what they wish, and we don't pitch fits," Percy said sarcastically. He looked at Thalia. "That's the way it has always worked."

"You sound bitter," Thalia noted.

"Not bitter," the son of Poseidon said, sighing. "Just tired."

Chiron cleared his throat. "Percy, my boy, why don't you show Thalia around? Give her a little tour before dinner." He caught Thalia's gaze on Piper. "She will be fine. Annabeth, Rachel and I will take good care of her. Try and enjoy yourself."

_While you still can, _he seemed to be saying.

Thalia followed the son of Poseidon outside. They walked alongside in silence. It wasn't until they passed the large arena that Percy dared to say anything.

"If you couldn't tell, I'm not a very good tour guide," the son of Poseidon joked.

Thalia shrugged good-naturedly. "I'm pretty sure that I already know what everything is anyway. Well, except those randomly-scattered buildings."

"Ah, the cabins, you mean."

"Cabins?"

"At first, camp only had twelve cabins—one for each of the Olympian gods. After the Second Titan War, we've constructed cabins for some of the minor gods, too."

"What purpose do they serve?"

"They house the children of whatever god they represent."

"Cabin Three—who's in there?"

"That's Poseidon's cabin," Percy stated proudly.

"You then?"

He nodded. "I'm the only demigod son of Poseidon so it can get pretty lonely. Sometimes my brother Tyson visits."

"I thought you were the only one?"

"Oh, Tyson's a Cyclops," he said. "That's different."

Thalia arched an eyebrow, clearly not understanding. "Uh huh."

"So is it true?" he inquired randomly after a few moments of silence.

"Is what true?" she asked sharply.

"Settle down," he stated with a smirk. "When we were in there, you said that you had your memories taken from you. Is it true? You really don't remember anything?"

"Certain things pop up in my head, but I usually can't make sense of them. Chiron says I'm different."

"Different?"

"Different."

He rolled his eyes. "I was looking for something more specific."

Thalia glanced to her boots. "That's as specific as I get."

"Do you want to know why I asked about your memory?"

"Sure," she said. "Hit me."

"Don't tempt me." He ignored her glare. "I want to take you to Cabin Fifteen—the one that looks like an old prairie house. It's Hypnos' cabin, the god of sleep. He could help us figure out your memory loss."

Thalia was surprised. He just wanted to help her like that? "Thanks," she said eventually.

"No problem," Percy said sincerely. "Of course, I can't sit here and pretend that it was all my idea. Annabeth suggested it to me before I went into the Big House. She thinks it might help you."

Without further ado, Percy and Thalia stepped into Cabin Fifteen. The first thing she noticed upon entering was the slowly-crackling fireplace (she half-expected it to freeze abruptly); then she realized that there were three slumbering demigods. It was already late in the day, so these kids were either early-sleepers or eternal-sleepers. She figured it was the latter; they _were_ children of the god of sleep.

The sound of softly-played violins filled the air, and the entire cabin was cozy and warm; it was practically willing Thalia to close her eyes. She fought the urge, somehow stopping herself from collapsing onto one of the incredibly soft beds.

Percy smoothly walked over to the nearest kid. He shook his shoulder with enough force to nudge him. "Clovis, man, get up." When the boy failed to budge, Percy shook him with even more force. "Clovis!"

Thalia stepped forward. "Here, let me." She grabbed him roughly by the nose and applied enough pressure to arouse a groan from him. When he was otherwise unresponsive, she yelled in his ear, "Clovis!"

The boy grumbled, pulling away from her hand and finally opening his sore eyes. "Who are you? And why did you wake me up?"

"We need your help," Percy said, moving until he was directly beside the demigoddess. "This is Thalia."

Clovis merely narrowed his eyes and yawned. "Yeah, yeah. Going back to sleep now."

"I don't think so," Percy muttered, yanking the boy's pillow off of the bed. Clovis protested weakly. "First, we need your help. Then you can go back to sleep, and I promise that we'll leave you alone."

"Fine," Clovis sighed, somehow pulling himself out of the warm bed. "What do you need help with?"

Percy briefly explained Thalia's memory problem. Clovis nodded along with every word, miraculously alert. The son of Hypnos eventually turned to Thalia and regarded her directly.

"Do you know how you lost your memories?"

Thalia nodded solemnly. "Ju—Hera took them from me."

"All right," Clovis muttered. "Not too sure that this will work, but close your eyes."

With an encouraging nudge from Percy, she reluctantly did so. At first nothing seemed to be happening but then she felt herself retreating—slowly pulling away from consciousness. The next thing she was aware of was the feel of a wooden chair. Thalia saw a flash of colors beneath her closed eyelids and she warily opened them. The fire danced patiently in front of her. Percy and Clovis were hunched in front of her, discussing something.

"—never seen anything like it," Clovis was saying. "Usually, memories lurk just beneath the surface. That's the case with most instances of memory loss. Thalia has no memories at all—they've vanished."

"The bitch wasn't kidding when she said she took my memories," the demigoddess grumbled, eyes half-closed.

"Clovis is saying she literately stole them from you," the son of Poseidon provided rather unhelpfully. "He can't bring them back for you."

"I know that already, Kelp Head." He looked shocked at the nickname. "Juno took them from me—"

"Juno?" Clovis asked, scratching the back of his head.

"She means Hera," Percy replied. "Juno is the Roman name."

Clovis hummed thoughtfully.

"What?" the son of Poseidon asked. "Is that important or something?"

"Could be."

"They're the same gods, aren't they? The Ancient Romans just gave them different names." Percy was obviously still confused about the whole Roman concept. Thalia couldn't lie—she was, too.

"Not exactly," Clovis disagreed. "Some of the gods are only Roman—Janus, Pompona. But even with the original Greek gods, more than their names changed."

"What do you mean?" Thalia asked, leaning forward in her comfy seat. "What else changed?"

"Oh, the way they appeared, their attributes, sometimes even what they stood for," Clovis answered smoothly. "And especially, their personalities changed."

"So, like, they changed to reflect the culture of the places they were in?" Percy asked hesitantly. "The whole Western Civilization thing?"

"And people say you're clueless," Clovis said with a light snort. "That's exactly it. Nowadays, the gods are all about American trends—suits, fast-food, reality television, all that junk. While they were in Rome, they melted into that culture. They became sterner, more assertive and warlike—the gods of a powerful, militaristic empire. They refrained from affairs of the mortal world. Roman gods have little in common with the Greek ones we know and love to irritate."

"Roman gods were mean, then," Percy stated bluntly.

"And more responsible and honorable," Thalia added before she could stop herself. "They valued strength and victory. They were virtuous."

She felt an urge to protect the prominence of the golden Roman image—a personal urge. She had to stand up for Rome.

"All of those things are true," the son of Hypnos admitted reluctantly. "But Percy is also right. They were far from friendly. The Greek gods are merciful and oftentimes rather lazy but their Roman counterparts were brutish and unforgiving."

The son of Poseidon nodded. "We should tell Chiron at the fire," he suggested to Thalia. "Maybe he'll make better sense of this Greek-Roman talk."

"Sure," Thalia mumbled sourly. "We'll do that."

Clovis stretched his arms out in front of him and released a hearty yawn. "Can I go back to sleep now?"

The two demigods left the cabin in silence, leaving Clovis to drool all over his fluffy pillow.

Percy cracked a smile. "I'm starting to appreciate my origins."

Thalia scowled. "I'm starting to realize mine."


	4. IV

**AN: **Wanted to update at least one of my stories, and this is the only one that seems to be coming to me easily. I already have most of the next chapter of SOM written, but I'm stuck on the closing. I considered going ahead and posting it, but I'm not too satisfied with what I have too far. Same with the Distortion of Destiny (though I only need about two more pages for it). I tried working on them yesterday but I was quite busy.

Happy Holidays! Sorry I couldn't update all of my stories by Christmas. I'll have them by New Year's, though.

Thank you for all of your reviews on the last chapter. Special (perhaps late) thank yous to **not for granted**, **GaleSynch**, **Kirii, **and any other reviewers. I don't usually mention people in chapters (I typically PM them), but the reviews made me smile, so thank you.

Please, enjoy.

* * *

**Thalia IV**

**Visions**

* * *

The campfire was even worse than Thalia had expected. Kids were dancing merrily, playing lyres and strumming guitars—and, ye gods, they were _singing_. To top things off, she had somehow found herself wedged uncomfortably between Clarisse, who was annoyingly grunting in response to her girlfriend's inquiries, and Percy, who was urging her to sing along.

Trying to find anything to distract herself from the awkward event, Thalia scanned the faces of the other campers. They were all piled onto the steps of the amphitheater, each seemingly divided into their own section. Banners indicated the parent of the demigods, she suspected.

Above Clarisse was a red banner with the image of an angry boar on it; the other children of Ares stayed close to her, but far enough away from Annabeth. Speaking of Annabeth, she wasn't sitting with her siblings, strangely enough. She was snuggled up to her girlfriend, whom she seemed to be lecturing. Clarisse clearly wasn't listening, but she continued to nod every few moments.

Leo was in a section close-by, sitting underneath a banner emblazoned with a hammer. The majority of the kids that were playing instruments came from the area marked by a flying golden canvas with an emblem of the sun.

There were several other banners—probably at least twenty—but Thalia no longer felt like looking at them. Instead her eyes were drawn to a figure beginning to enter the area—Piper. She smiled slightly, noticing the anxious and timid expression the other girl wore. Catching her attention, the pale girl waved her over.

"Percy, man, scoot over," Thalia instructed, making room for Piper to sit down. "Give the woman some room."

"Gladly," the son of Poseidon chirped with a friendly smile. Once Piper sat down, he shook her hand. "I'm Percy Jackson. It's nice to meet you."

The Native American girl returned his gesture. "Likewise." She looked to Thalia, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm guessing you two already met?"

Thalia was able to nod before Chiron made his presence known. "Very nice! And a special welcome to our new campers. I am Chiron, Director of Camp Half-Blood. Firstly, before we do anything else, we have some important matters to discuss."

"What's this all about?" someone called out boldly.

"A new academic course?"

"Better instruments?"

"A spa room?"

"Killing people?" one of Clarisse's siblings asked excitedly.

"No, no, no, and definitely _no_," the centaur replied quickly. "Annabeth, dear, if you will."

The daughter of Athena reluctantly pulled away from Clarisse and stood. "Chiron is proposing a new quest."

"A quest?" Drew called out. "What do we need a quest for?" She scanned the stunned faces of her siblings, as if expecting their support. "There's no prophecy or anything, is there?"

All eyes turned to Chiron, except those of an electric blue. Thalia was gazing into the tall and colorfully blazing fire, feeling a memory prick at her brain.

"_One of us is the hero of Octavian's recent prophecy, Thalia. We are the only living children of Jupiter."_

_She and a blonde boy were in a tent, both dressed in battle wear—combat boots and pants, and golden armor, with silk purple capes and swords on their hips. _

"_Don't you think I realized that, Jason?"_

"_You can't go alone. You won't be the child of the prophecy. I won't let it be you."_

"_This is not negotiable. I'm eldest."_

_Jason angrily knocked an artifact from its place on the wooden desk. "By seven fucking minutes!"_

"_Don't do this, Jase."_

_He blocked the exit of the tent, crossing his arms firmly over his chest. "Give me your word."_

"_What good would that do?"_

"_Give me your word," he repeated through gritted teeth. "Swear on the head of our father that you won't go."_

_Thalia crossed her fingers—the action was unnoticed by her brother. "I swear."_

"_On the head of Jupiter Optimus Maximus."_

_She kept her fingers crossed even tighter. "On the head of Jupiter."_

"Thalia," Piper called to her, shaking her from her flashback. "You look pale. What's wrong? Is everything all right?"

"My—my head," Thalia excused although it was clear that Piper was not buying the fib. "It's just a headache."

Now, what was Chiron saying again?

"A major problem has arisen," he announced. "This calls for a quest, as you all know. Hera, Queen of the Gods, has been taken."

Hushed chatter swept through the amphitheater. The flames of the campfire burned purple—the same shade as her ripped, smoked shirt. The same shade her cape had been in that flashback. Who the hell wore capes anymore?

"Hera has spoken through me in order to talk to Piper," Rachel stated. The demigods shrank slightly from the sight of her, as if she had some sort of power over them. "She appeared from smoke to talk to Thalia."

"Thalia," Annabeth said suddenly, and then she paused. "Wait. Do you remember your last name?"

_Grace_, something told her.

And so she answered: "Grace."

One snort sounded, and then followed several others.

She narrowed her icy blue eyes, scanning the faces of the campers. "What?" she barked out. "What's so funny?"

"Thalia Grace?" Percy asked. "As in, Thalia the Grace?"

She finally got the joke but she still didn't find it very funny.

"Why does she get the quest?" a boy directly behind Clarisse bellowed. "I've been here for two years, and I still haven't gotten one!"

"Yes, Mark," Chiron said reluctantly. "Well, the time will come for that later. Thalia has been asked by the goddess herself."

"But she hasn't even been claimed!"

"Oh, she has. Long ago," the centaur disagreed, turning to look at Thalia. "Dear, perhaps a demonstration?"

"A demonstration of what?" the demigoddess asked, nearly fidgeting. She already knew who her father was, if that flashback had been any indication at all.

"You must embrace your lineage," Chiron advised with a knowing smile. "And others around you will as well."

What did that even mean? Adults tried way too hard to sound philosophical.

"Show them your sword," Piper suggested quietly.

It wasn't quietly enough. Drew overheard and commented something about how she'd like to see Thalia's sword anytime. Even though her innuendo made no sense, her sisters giggled along with her.

If Drew ever saw her _sword_, it would be protruding from her chest cavity.

Thalia decided to be a good girl and calmly dug the coin from her pocket. Smiling a little at the sight of it, she flipped it into the air. When it landed into her hands, she wasn't surprised to see that it wasn't her spatha.

The gold bow fit perfectly in her hands. She had to admit, she liked it a bit more than the sword. It wasn't for close combat but it gave her more range and it seemed more her style. Immediately, she noticed, a leather quiver full of gold-tipped arrows shimmered into existence on her back. She wasn't quite sure how _that _was possible, but she chose not to question it.

Annabeth's eyes widened. "Didn't you say that you had a sword?"

"Looks like I have both," Thalia murmured approvingly. She pulled back the string experimentally, discovering that it was pretty strong. She had the feeling that she practiced a hell of a lot before she lost her memory. "Nice."

"Try it out," Piper encouraged. Her sudden outburst caused a few critical eyes to turn to her but she ignored them easily. "See if you're any good at archery."

With speed that rivaled that of a lightning bolt, Thalia swiftly pulled an arrow from the quiver and nocked it with ease. Before she could even blink, she had released the string and the arrow shot an impossible distance away, embedding itself halfway through the arena wall. Sparks danced across the slightly-bent shaft, shocking poor passersby and causing them to yelp in startled pain.

"Whoa," the blonde boy from earlier—Will—stood and gazed in awe at the arrow. "How did it go through the wall? Your arrows are sparking! And that has to be over two-thousand yards."

"One thousand seven hundred and fifty four, actually," Thalia corrected and then blinked in surprise. She sat back down, calming slightly whenever Piper placed a soothing hand on her forearm. "Wow."

"How did you…?" Will let the question hang in the stunned silence.

Chiron cleared his throat. "Well, I think we all know who your father is."

"I remembered something earlier," she mumbled just loud enough for him to hear. She turned slightly cold eyes to him. "So it's true then? I'm not a Greek, am I?"

Piper gradually slipped her hand to her bicep.

Chiron shifted his stance. "No, my dear."

"What?" Clarisse asked, placing her hands on her hips bossily. "What is it you remembered?"

"I am Thalia," she said. "Daughter of Jupiter. Lord of the Skies."

"Jupiter?" Annabeth asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

Chiron sighed but swiveled his head to view all of the campers. His wise eyes settled on Thalia lastly and they bore into her. "It is true. We welcome you, Thalia Grace, Daughter of Zeus."

Thalia heard a light whistle and mutterings.

"Hotshot."

"That makes her like royalty, right?"

"She certainly looks the part."

"Gotta get me some of _that_."

Most of the comments had naturally come from Drew and her siblings. Piper seemed to notice that too, and so she tightened her grip on Thalia's bicep.

Hurried whispers rushed back and forth. Percy stood up, somehow silencing everyone. He seemed to be an important person. "Zeus? She's a daughter of the Big Three? Why didn't we know about her sooner? What about the Great Prophecy?"

The daughter of Athena nodded as if she suddenly understood everything about the situation. Thalia honestly wouldn't doubt it if she did know.

"If you're truly Roman, the prophecy didn't apply where you're from, did it?" Annabeth asked thoughtfully. "It was about any Greek children of the Big Three."

"There _was_ a prophecy about my brother and me," the daughter of Jupiter admitted, feeling the throbbing pain in her temple again. She closed her eyes tightly. "I don't remember it but I have a bad feeling about it—like it didn't turn out so good."

"Let bygones be bygones," Rachel commented with a dismissive wave of her hand. "That's not important right now. You're here, and you have a quest to fulfill. And that, my friend, calls for a prophecy."

With a close of her eyes, she swooned. Two campers—Clarisse and some brunette boy—rushed forward to catch her. Another camper, with fiery hair and with the physique of string cheese, fetched a three-legged bronze stool to place underneath Rachel. The motions were routine, as if they were all used to this happening.

Her eyelids fluttered open as soon as she was placed on the stool, and emerald smoke billowed from her lips and eye sockets. Her raspy words were spoken with a sort of lisp.

_Child of lightning, beware the earth_

_The giants' revenge your choice shall birth_

_Heroes to break the cage or admit defeat_

_A new future unleashed through a queen's retreat_

Rachel collapsed, but her attendants were already prepared and carried her over to a corner to rest.

"Is that normal? Are her prophecies always like that? With the smoke and everything?"

Thalia looked to Piper when she spoke. She thought it had been a fair question, but Drew snorted in contempt.

"What are you? Dense?" the daughter of Aphrodite snapped. "Have you never seen the Oracle give a prophecy—?"

"Of course not," Thalia answered before she could finish. She kept her expression calm. "We haven't exactly been here before, you know."

Drew had the decency to blush. "Oh, I wasn't thinking."

"Yeah," Piper said with a scoff. "We got that."

"Shut up, you walking bag of trash."

"Drew," Annabeth snapped. "Lay off of her. We have a quest to talk about, so kindly shut your mouth."

"So giants, huh?" Percy asked, attempting to quell the argument. "Sounds interesting."

Annabeth nodded grimly. "I wouldn't say interesting, but it's definitely something to worry about."

"Later, my dear," Chiron urged.

"A queen's retreat," Clarisse recalled. "Has Hera ever been one to retreat?"

Percy snorted. "She's always breathing down Zeus' neck about shit—" Thunder rumbled. The son of Poseidon rolled his eyes. "Sorry, not sorry."

He was sassy. Thalia was almost starting to like him.

"How do we even know that we can trust Hera?" Annabeth asked heatedly. "After that bullshit that she pulled with the labyrinth, I'm not too eager to do anything for her."

"I don't have much of a choice," Thalia commented dryly. "Hera has something of mine, and I want it back. I'm not going to get anything if I just sit around on my ass. Besides, it's not like she doesn't need to be saved. She's the Queen of Olympus."

Nyssa, a girl from the Hephaestus cabin, stood up and scratched the back of her neck. "You should listen to Annabeth, though. Hera is vengeful and cruel, especially to the children of her husband. She threw our father off of Mount Olympus just because he was ugly."

"Real ugly," a boy from the Aphrodite cabin commented unhelpfully.

"Shut it," Nyssa snarled. "We've heard quite enough from your cabin."

"Agreed," Piper muttered.

Drew heard her and glared, but Leo's laugh cut through her angry response.

"What the hell is strong enough to capture Hera?" Nyssa spoke again. "And what's all that crap about having to beware the earth?"

"Hippies gone wild?" Percy guessed unhelpfully. "Attack of the tree huggers?"

"It's Thalia's quest," Annabeth reminded with a tired sigh. "She's the child of lightning. According to tradition, she can bring two companions along with her." She turned her eyes to Thalia. "Who's it going to be?"

Connor Stoll, as he introduced himself, stood and gestured towards the daughter of Athena. "Well, you, obviously, Annabeth."

Annabeth fiddled with her fingers uneasily. "I'm not the biggest fan of Hera; actually, to be rather blunt, I hate her with a burning passion. But if you need me to go, I'll be inclined to say yes."

Piper smiled, tugging on the end of Thalia's jacket to grab her attention. "I'm here for you, you know."

"Ugh," Drew groaned. "Just hearing your voice makes me sick, Dumpster Girl."

Thalia didn't know why but she couldn't stop herself from speaking up. "Her name is Piper, and she has a lovely voice."

Piper beamed at the compliment but tried in vain to hide it. She tried for a scowl. It was rather…cute. "I can take care of myself."

"Whatever her name is, sweetie," Drew purred, "is irrelevant. You're sensible—you obviously want me to go on the quest with you. I have my charm. I can be very persuasive. I can assure you that I can be of some use." She gave a saucy wink that more than hinted at what she was implying.

"We all know what services you could provide," Nyssa remarked cleverly. "And that isn't what she needs. She needs to save the Queen of the Gods, and that's it."

Piper seemed pleased but, as Thalia was starting to learn, she wasn't one to back down from a challenge. "If you think _my _girlfriend would like to go on a quest with you, then you have another thing coming, you shallow cunt."

"Piper!" Annabeth exclaimed.

Everyone else laughed unabashedly, throwing their heads back in disbelief. Clarisse was the loudest, clutching at her muscled abdomen. Even though everyone was still rather grim, it was nice to get everyone laughing. It made the entire fiasco remarkably lighter.

"Damn, girl," the daughter of Ares said, something akin to pride in her expression. "You're a little spitfire, aren't ya?"

Drew seethed. "Just you wait, Garbage Queen—"

"I choose Percy," the daughter of Jupiter interrupted. Everyone fell silent again. The laughter abruptly ceased. Apparently, that had not been a fair thing to say.

"You—you can't ask that," the son of Poseidon said shakily. It was the most disturbed that she had seen him. "Look, Thalia, I'm sorry. I'm out of the questing business. I gave up on that after the war."

Thalia deflated but she didn't let it show. If she couldn't bring Percy, who could she bring? Her eyes drifted to Piper again. She had never seen the other girl fight but she had seen her stand up for herself. If that puppy could bite as fiercely as it barked, then Piper would make for one formidable opponent. Right then and there she made a decision that she hoped she wouldn't regret.

"I choose Piper."

Even though Drew looked peeved, crossing her arms over her bust angrily, no one debated her decision. She could get used to that.

"Good choice," Annabeth approved with a smile. "She's very clever."

Clarisse snickered, crossing her muscular arms. "Has a healthy bit of fight in her, too."

"Who else, dear?" Chiron asked patiently.

Leo popped into her head but she felt guilt rise in her.

Thalia honestly didn't feel right about asking Piper and Leo to accompany her—they were extremely new to the entire demigod concept. She had hoped that they could stay behind and adapt. On the other hand, a part of her—a larger part of her—wanted them to go with her. She felt like she had earned their trust, and they hers, and she could depend on them.

"They'll need a means of air or water transport," Nyssa pointed out. "If the prophecy says to beware the earth, I'm guessing land travel is out of the question."

Thalia was thankful for the change of subject.

Annabeth looked to Chiron. "Air transport is our best bet. We shouldn't risk water transport—Thalia is a daughter of Zeus. Poseidon wouldn't take kindly to her being in his domain."

Percy glanced at his shoes, almost looking ashamed.

"I'm sure my cabin can figure something out," Nyssa said. "As senior camper, I'm obligated to volunteer for the quest. As a rule, we typically don't allow day-old campers to go on quests."

Even though she wasn't enthusiastic, she sounded rather concerned.

"There have been exceptions," Chiron replied, looking pointedly to Percy and Thalia. "Sometimes it is necessary for a new camper to go on a quest. According to tradition, Thalia is allowed to pick whoever she wants, regardless of their expertise."

"It's me," Leo stated with finality, nodding slightly at Nyssa. Several of his siblings attempted to argue, but he quieted them immediately. "I know it's me. It has to be. I already have a solution to our transportation problem. Please. Just let me try."

Thalia bit her bottom lip in thought, looking away from Leo's pleading gaze. Was choosing Leo the right way to go? She didn't want to drag her forgotten friends into this and have something bad happen to them. But they had been through so much with her so far. She decided it would be shame to just neglect that. These were her friends—whether she truly knew them or not, they remembered _her_.

"I suppose it would get rather boring without you around to crack jokes at everything," the daughter of Jupiter remarked thoughtfully, unable to keep the smirk off of her face whenever Leo threw his fist into the air enthusiastically.

"It'll be dangerous," Nyssa warned. Her eyes turned completely to Leo. "There will be hardships—moments where you have to fight for your life, go days without sleep or nourishment. It's unlikely that any of you will return alive."

Leo's expression dropped and his fist landed back at his side. When he remembered that everyone was watching him, he smiled and shrugged. "Awesome! Starvation will be a piece of cake. Hah! Get it? Piece of cake? Because we won't have any?"

"You tried, Leo," Piper replied. "You tried."

Finally, as if pushed to a certain insufferable extent, Drew brought herself strongly to her feet and huffed. "You don't know what you're missing out on, Thalia. What does this filthy girl have to offer you? Maybe her stench and horrific hair will scare the monsters away."

"What the fuck is your problem?" Piper snapped, growing red in the cheeks. "I don't even know you, and you're being a huge bitch."

"My _problem_ is none of your concern, honey," Drew snarled, her words dripping with unconcealed venom. "I wasn't talking to you." Then, almost instantly, her expression cleared of any malice. She smiled sweetly over at Thalia, gradually sauntering over to her.

The daughter of Jupiter arched an eyebrow in suspicion, but allowed the girl to approach her. Drew straddled her hips, running a hand through cropped, curly black hair. "Take me…on the quest with you," she persuasively suggested, running a finger over Thalia's plump red lips. "You know I'll be better than Sacajawea over there."

Despite her true intentions, Thalia began to believe that maybe she had made a mistake in choosing Piper. Drew was obviously better. Drew had been at camp longer. She was probably going to be a better survivalist than Piper.

But did Drew have to be so mean? And why did Thalia suddenly want to choose Drew over Piper? Piper had been the one that helped her through most of the day. She had whacked Dylan in the head with Hedge's club. She could provide much more assistance than Drew, couldn't she?

Unable to say much else, Thalia muttered, "Sacajawea helped in the exploration of the West. She was a terrific guide. You just complimented Piper."

Drew gritted her teeth, fighting to maintain her innocent look. "I can do more than guide. Take _me. _Choose _me_."

"Okay," Thalia conceded unthinkingly.

Drew smiled triumphantly, climbing off of Thalia.

"No!" Piper shouted, her voice sounding much stronger than it usually was. "I'm supposed to go."

Thalia furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, tilting her head to the side. "You're supposed to go," she repeated. Then, more strongly, "I chose Piper, and I'm not changing my mind."

"Oh, yes you are!" Drew argued.

"Okay," Thalia responded meekly in confusion.

"Thalia, don't listen to her!" Piper commanded. "She's—well, I'm not sure what she's doing, but I'm the one that's supposed to go on this quest. I can feel it. _Trust me. _I'm the one that Hera spoke to, remember?"

"Girls," Chiron broke into the conversation, his eyes glazed over. Thalia looked around and noticed that every camper, with the exception of Piper and Drew, seemed to be conflicted and dazed. "That's quite enough. Thalia, we don't mean to rush you. You can decide in the morning, if you wish. Just know that you will be expected to leave early tomorrow."

Thalia dreamt of her brother. The two of them were small—maybe seven or eight years of age. Their clothes were tattered and stained with blood but the two of them were smiling excitedly. They were running from something, it appeared, and the loud barks that sounded through the air sent a warm tingle down her spine.

They ran straight into a courtyard, where a strange beast awaited them. The she-wolf towered over the children of Jupiter but she didn't appear to be threatening them. Gray wolves finally burst through the doorways after them, coming to a screech behind the twins.

The blood red she-wolf cackled, her silver eyes glinting. Thalia wasn't sure how she recognized the laughter, but something told her what the creature was doing. Even though it released snarls and barks, she could decipher what it was saying to her as well.

_Very good, young pups, _the she-wolf said. _You learn fast for two humans. I haven't seen that kind of aptitude since Romulus and Remus. _

Suddenly, the vision shifted. Thalia was in the same location, with the same wolves, but she was her current age and Jason was nowhere to be found.

_You must find your way back, _the she-wolf informed.

"Back? Back where?"

The creature snarled. _Back to your throne._ _Things are falling apart in your absence. Rome needs its third consul. Your brother needs you._

"Jason?" she asked numbly, feeling a slight twitch in her chest. Her little brother needed her. "I—I don't even remember much. Where's my throne? What are you talking about?"

_You expect my help? You expect my sympathy? _Its lips curled in disgust. _What has become of you, my little Romulus? Conquer or die. You know this is our way._

"Mother Lupa," Thalia addressed the wolf, the title slipping off of her tongue before she could ponder it. "Do not perceive my ignorance as weakness. I can still fight. I am still strong. I am still the daughter of Jupiter."

_You speak the truth, little one. But with each passing day, Rome grows weaker. As does our sacred place. The house of the wolf. She has plagued our home. Come and cleanse it. _

"She? You mean Juno?"

Lupa bared her teeth. _Juno has been trapped here. I care nothing for her well-being, but I fear what might transpire if her enemy succeeds. Squash this abomination before it has the chance to return._

"Can you at least tell me more about myself?"

Lupa's lips curled into a strange smirk. Thalia had the feeling that she had been on the receiving end of that look plenty of times. _Why, you're the Lion of New Rome. Do not fail, courageous little lion._


End file.
